Robert Menendez

With the newly enacted health insurance reform legislation I know that many New Jerseyans have lots of questions about this law and how it impacts them.  This page has been set up to be a clearinghouse of information on the new law.  Here you will be able to find out how it impacts you, how it benefits NJ, what I accomplished in the bill and some general information.  I hope that you will find this page helpful and I encourage you to check back frequently for more information or contact one of my offices.

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act will ensure that all Americans have access to quality, affordable health care and will significantly reduce long-term health care costs. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has determined that these bills will provide coverage to 32 million Americans while lowering health care costs over the long term. This historic legislation will reduce the deficit by $143 billion over the next ten years, with $1.2 trillion in additional deficit reduction in the following decade.

Read the Legislative Text of the Health Insurance Reform Law

• Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act  Click Here
• Health Care and Education Reconciliation Click Here

My Accomplishments in the Health Insurance Reform Law

• Support for New Jersey hospitals
• Requiring insurance coverage for behavioral health treatment for people with autism.
• Support, education, and research for postpartum depression
• Successfully protected more middle-class families, seniors from excise tax on high-value insurance plans
• Guaranteeing consumers a fair appeal when they're denied coverage
• Require private insurers to fully reimburse Federally-Qualified Health Centers
• Support for the concept of a Women’s Medical Home
• Protection of children’s coverage in the new health insurance exchange
• Consumer protection for emergency services
• Ombudsman assistance with internal appeals and tax credit appeals
• Protections for healthcare-associated infections
• Click here to learn more about these and other initiatives
  

Health Reform for Americans

• Health Reform for American Families
• Health Reform for American Seniors
• Health Reform for American Women
• Health Reform for Racial and Ethnic Minorities
• Health Reform for Native Americans
• Health Reform for Early Retirees
• Health Reform for Rural Americans
• Health Reform for Americans with Disabilities
• Health Reform for Young Adults
• Health Reform for Children
• Health Reform for Health Care Providers

Additional Resources for Information on the Health Insurance Reform Law

• Department of Health & Human Services Website on the New Law
• Demcratic Policy Committee Implementation Resources
• Questions and Answers on the Bill
• Immediate Benefits of the New Law
• Health Insurance Reform and New Jersey
• Early Retiree Reinsurance Program
  

Information on the Implementation of the Health Insurance Reform Law

• IRS Information on the Small Business Health Care Tax Credit
• HHS Announces First Steps to Establish Temporary High Risk Pool Program
• Regulations establishing the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program
• Fact Sheet: Keeping the Health Plan You Have
• Fact Sheet to Combat Fraud and Misinformation
• Information on Young Adult Coverage
  • Fact Sheet About Young Adults Coverage (including providers implementing the law immediately)
  • Q&A on Young Adult Coverage

Health Insurance Reform Law Quick Facts

• The new law provides a $250 rebate to Medicare beneficiaries who hit the donut hole in 2010
• The new law requires insurers to permit children to stay on family policies until age 26
• The new law prohibits insurers from charging higher premiums due to gender, health status, family history, or occupation.
• The new law offers tax credits to small businesses beginning in 2010 to make employee coverage more affordable.
• The new law creates extends federal funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for two additional years and provides states with additional funding to ensure children have access to this successful program.
  
• The new law will rein in unsustainable increases in health care costs to ensure future sustainability of the system, and will reduce federal deficits by $143 billion over the next ten years.
• The new law requires all new health plans to implement an effective process for appeals of coverage determinations and claims.
• The new law provides $5 billion in financial assistance to employers to help them maintain coverage for early retirees age 55 and older who are not yet eligible for Medicare.
  
• The new law requires premium rate reviews to track any arbitrary premium increases by insurance companies and cracks down on excessive insurance overhead by applying standards on how much insurance companies can spend on non-medical costs, such as bureaucracy and advertising.
• The new law includes MOTHERS Act, legislation I championed on postpartum depression.  Click here to read more about the MOTHERS Act
• The new law increases Medicaid eligibility for all non-elderly parents and childless adults, children, and pregnant women with income up to 133 percent of poverty ($29,300 for a family of four).
  
• The new law provides a new, voluntary, self-insured insurance program that helps families pay for the costs of long-term supports and services if a loved one develops a disability.
• In the new law, Senator Menendez sponsored a new Therapeutic Discovery credit which will support research with potential to produce new therapies, create high quality jobs. Here is additional information on the tax credit: Additional Information
  
• The new law will allow you to keep your current coverage if you like it and still benefit from many of the new consumer protections in the Affordable Care Act, such as a ban on your insurance being terminated just because you get sick and had made an unintentional mistake on your forms. Read more about this here